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Just a quick note to drop today to let you guys know that I won my first Fearless Photo of the Day award! Now these are different from regular Fearless awards as this full collection is curated by the Founder and Director of Fearless, Huy Nguyen. What an honour it is to have something selected by someone of his calibre!

This was a photo I took of Sinthubairavy and Shindujan at their engagement shoot in San Fransicsco. There are so many great photos from their shoot that I’ve yet to share. I smell a featured e-shoot coming soon!

Tanya here with my first tips post on the IbA Blog. Now, for a bit of context: Annu and I complement each other in a lot of ways, we balance each other out. Where I like to be organized, he's more go-with-the-flow. Where he's a movie buff, I like TV shows more. Where I'm sorru-curry (aka rice and curry), he's a roti kinda guy. And when it comes to clients, he's the nice guy, and I'm tough love. I say the things that you may not want to hear but are always in your best interest - I'm not always the greatest at sugar coating either. So keep that in mind when reading my stuff - it's all done out of love :)

With that being said, I bring to you some tips to help you plan your engagement shoot (there are many more, I'll probably have to make at least another post).

1. Be mentally prepared – it is going to be a long day. A VERY long day. Most people don’t realize that for each final photo you see online, there are scores of the same pose, altered in slightly different ways and taken from different angles and different light settings. Though engagement shoots are very fun and memorable, they can be tiring as well. Make sure to have a good mindset and attitude going into it!

2. Keeping Tip #1 in mind… SLEEP! A good night’s rest is so important to help you last through your engagement shoot. Have everything laid out about 2-3 days ahead of time so all you have to do the day before is run through the things you’ve set aside and make sure you didn’t forget anything.

3. Also in reference to Tip #1… EAT! It’s going to be a long day. Don’t starve yourself in the morning because you don’t want a little cushion that can come with a hearty meal. Eat well and be energized. Trust us – if it matters that much to you, it is far easier to trim down a little extra lovin’ than it is to change a cranky/tired/impatient face to a happy one. Who doesn’t get happy after a nice full meal? :)

...and if you forget to eat in the morning, just bring food with you! haha! #muttonrollsarelife

4. Bring a friend! Bringing one or two friends really enhances the overall shoot as you have someone set to help you with your stuff (so that you are not lugging a bunch of stuff around from spot to spot while you are in heels). They’re also great in lightening the atmosphere for fun, candid photos.

When planning her engagement shoot - Dil enlisted the help of her sister Neluja, and friends Nikki and Robbie to plan and come along for their shoot in New Mexico. They did everything from help in planning, lug Dil & Vino's stuff from spot to spot, and even piggy back Dil across a snake ridden field because I wanted a particular shot and Dil has a crippling fear of snakes. Get yourself a clan like this!

5. Do. Not. Match. The days of styling in the exact same shade of each other are long gone. When styling your outfits, it’s important to distinguish between matching and coordinating. If one is wearing a bright orange dress, the other should not be wearing a bright orange shirt. The key is to find the balance of not matching, but not clashing - ask us if you feel unsure.

Find the balance and learn a bit about colour palettes with us! :)

6. Nails – we have no preference as to whether the bride gets them done at the salon, at home, or doesn’t paint them at all – all we ask is that they’re neat, trimmed, and clean. This applies to gents as well! No long, dirty fingernails! There is going to be a lot of hand holding and ring shots, so let’s keep it clean, folks!

7. Ladies, have your ring cleaned before the shoot so that your bling blings!

Sweeter than honey!

8. Back up – if the weather calls for temperatures that are cooler than the outfits that you are wearing, bring a sweater/coat. You can keep it on as we move from shot to shot and just throw it off as needed.

How chivalrous!

9. And the most important thing to ensure that you get the best photographs possible is that you give us moments to capture! Breathe and relax! Steal looks at each other! Smile! Laugh! Kiss! Show us how truly in love you are!

Hope you enjoyed these tips! I'll have to make a follow up so if you've been through your engagement shoot and have a tip that can help someone else out, please leave it in the comments below!

You know what’s one of the saddest, but also one of the most common, things I hear from brides who to meet me? They flip through a sample album, nervously laugh and say “These has photos are amazing! I don’t know if I’m pretty enough to be an Impressions bride! 😥”. It makes me laugh, shake my head, and tell them that just about every bride that they’re in awe of had said the same thing to me when coming to book. Yes, many of my brides are stunning, but there is so, so much more to getting amazing photos than a beautiful face.

That’s why I decided to kick off my blog with Sarmilan and Thnuza’s engagement session. Yep - by all societal norms and standards, they far surpass your average looking couple, but that’s not why I would attribute them as having maybe my favourite set of engagement images ever. There are a lot of factors that contributed to them getting exceptional images, some of which I’m going to share below.

1) They did their research - watching along their snaps on the weeknights or weekends, you would see Sarmilan and Thnuza location scouting for weeks, even months. They went during the times that their shoot was planned to be to check out the light (photography enthusiasts are a plus as well, I should mention). And they were smart - it wasn’t the chore of wedding planning. They’d plan date nights around it and made it fun. Not all wedding planning needs to be stressful!

2) They invested... a lot - can you get beautiful photos on a budget? Absolutely! But having a specific vision in mind might require a bit of extra investment to make that dream come to life. Sarmilan and Thnuza styles themselves flawlessly for all of their eshoots that went along very well for the photos that they wanted. As stated above, they did their location scouting ahead of time and locked in permits in advance. And Thnuza worked with some of the best professional MUAH artists throughout all of her wedding events. It’s simple - you get what you put in.

3) They have amazing chemistry – when people hear about a couple having “amazing chemistry” in front of a lens, they think of couples being able to get sultry on camera. That’s truly not the case. Sarmilan & Thnuza’s comfort with each other and in front of me is shown through the variety of their photos. They definitely do have steamy photos (which is not easy for any couple to do, much less do well), but they also have some truly heartwarming candid happy photos, and picturesque GQ posed photos. Their spark shows in all forms, and that’s what I love most about their photos.

4) They trusted me – Thnuza and Sarmilan showed me what they liked and came with specific ideas for their shoot. But they worked with me and any ideas I had. I'll be the first one to admit that not every idea is a homerun, but more often than not, when couples really have faith and work with me, we make gold! They also persevered! It’s a little known fact that for every final image you see there are a bunch that you don’t. These two held poses, climbed trees, withstood gusty winds, and icy waterfalls, and so much more because they believed that great images would come from it. There are too many examples of that throughout Thnuza and Sarmilan’s shoot that prove that working together as a team brings forth amazing results!

A lot of things contribute to a successful engagement shoot but theirs would have been exceptional no matter what because of their preparation, investment, perseverance, and attitude. Remember, dreams don't work unless you do.... Take a look...

If you enjoyed these photos make sure to follow us on Instagram (@impressionsbyannuj) to see our new work when it first comes online!